Noah’s Story
Noah’s Story
Gestation: 26 Weeks and 3 Days
On Unit: 07 March – 13 April 2022
Natasha, Noah’s mam, kindly shares her story with us.
‘Noah was born on the 7th March 2022 at 26 weeks 3 days, weighing a tiny 750g by emergency c-section, he was intubated at birth and taken straight to the red area where he had phototherapy for jaundice, lots of vitamins and goodness being pumped into him through IV lines and a transfusion.’
‘Noah was doing so well that after the first 24 hours of life he ended up getting moved onto CPAP and we were allowed our first skin to skin, it was the best experience of my life getting my first cuddles with my son. A few days in, he came down with a little infection so unfortunately he ended up being intubated again – but only for two days! He was started on some antibiotics which soon did the trick, he tolerated his feeds as he should and he was just doing absolutely amazing!’
‘Two weeks into our stay in red they told us Noah was ready to move to blue! I was terrified but I knew he was ready for it, 24 hours into our stay in blue Noah ended up with fluid on the lungs meaning he was struggling to breathe this resulted in us being taken back round to red. The decision was made to start another course of antibiotics and some diuretics to flush the fluid out of Noah. It was decided not to intubate right away and just to monitor him for the next few hours. We weren’t hopeful but, like the amazing little boy he is, he proved us all wrong and he was back to his usual self again within no time (we still think he was missing some of his favourite nurses!). He went from strength to strength and we were moved back into blue where we stayed for two weeks until we were transferred closer to home!’
How did Tiny Lives impact your time on the unit?
‘Tiny lives really were amazing. The day we arrived on the unit we were gifted our Tiny Lives parent pack with lots of useful things in including a diary so we could follow Noah’s journey from day to day and remember it for the rest of our lives. The Miniboos are the best things possibly invented, the fact I could keep my sons scent with me all night made me feel so much closer to him when I wasn’t around and I loved seeing him cuddle into his!’
‘The crafts that are made by the unit are brilliant, the tiny prints of his hands and feet and the first pictures that were taken when I was unable to be there for his first few hours are life are something we will treasure forever. We loved going onto the ward in the morning and finding another picture that the girls had taken through night. vCreate was the thing that made us feel so comfortable throughout the whole experience, receiving pictures and videos of Noah while we couldn’t be with him made us feel so warm inside, they definitely helped us through the sleepless nights without him.’
